Due to inclement weather, our Cultivate Her event for Friday, January 29th has been canceled.

We had originally planned to reschedule for Monday, February 1st, but that date has also been canceled.

We will see you for our next scheduled event:

Friday, February 26th

7:00 AM

Cross Point Church Gym

Sorry for any confusion!  Hope you are enjoying the snow!

Just some random stuff on my mind tonight…

• I’m really honored to have a featured interview at my friend Laura Anne’s blog.  You should go check out the other people she’s interviewed too – pretty cool stories!
• I hate peeling oranges, but I’m strongly opposed to cutting them therefore I have orange gunk under my nails right now.
• I keep thinking that I need to get my “to do” list done before I sit down to do some reading.  I can’t seem to get that “to do” list done with time to relax with a book.  Need to reprogram my head on this one.  I’ve got too many good books to read.
• Looking forward to seeing how our Cross Point peeps show up with items for Haiti tomorrow!
• Praying that our Visa issues get worked out for our trip to India.
• Wishing the laundry automatically folded itself…
• Excited that sweet Audrey entered the world this week.  She’s beautiful!
• I’ve spent several hours today working on my talk and materials for Cultivate Her which is this Friday.  Have you RSVP’d yet?
• Wishing that I was in Australia watching the Australian open!
• I committed to running with the 10 minute mile pace group for the 1/2 marathon training.  This should stretch me!  I would love your support for the race!

What’s your randomness this weekend?

I can hardly believe that we’re only one week into the New Year!  This has been such a full week.  We’re back at it in full force!

Here are some things I’m excited about:

• The 31 Day Challenge - I love that so many of us are reading through Proverbs together.  I love hearing your thoughts and observing your insights.  They add an entirely new layer to my comprehension of the scripture.  Stick with us!

• The launch of Pursuit at all of our campuses this Sunday.  This series is going to be powerful!

• The launch of FX Live for our families.  This is the first time we’ll have a family targeted event at ALL of our campuses.  Make plans to be there… it’s gonna be good!

• Pete, Ryan and I leave for India in just over 3 weeks – yikes!  I’m afraid this trip is really going to rattle me.

• Our next Cultivate Her event is Friday, January 29th at 7AM.  I’m really excited about this year and some of the things we have planned for helping encourage, support and equip women leaders.  Mark your calendars – I know it’s 7AM, but I promise it’s worth it!

What are you excited about?  What are you looking forward to this week, this month, this year?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I’ve been reflecting a lot on what it means to be a generous leader.

I admire leaders who seem to give themselves away repeatedly in spite of very busy lives.  I marvel at how they do it all.  As much as it frustrates me, I’m a default to ‘task‘ type of person.  I wish I was wired for ‘people’ first.  I really do, but I’m naturally wired to focus on getting things done.

As much as this is the reality of how I’m wired, I refuse to allow it to be an excuse. I believe that I still have a responsibility to be aware of this tendency and then to work towards balancing my life towards investing in others more strategically.

Last week at Cultivate Her, being a generous leader was our topic for the day.  We invited a panel of generous leaders to speak to us sharing their thoughts on how they have invested in others this way.  Here are some of my favorite comments from the time they shared with us:

Margaret Becker

• avoid a scarcity mentality; we are descendants of Christ the King (royalty) and once we grasp this we realize there is plenty to go around; give abundantly without fear of not having enough
• to be effective you have to be fluid; be a conduit rather than a dispenser
• leadership requires humility – to be broken in public
• always choose people over the system

Randy Elrod

• know yourself
• every time we mentor we deplete our emotional gauge; we have to be aware of where that emotional gauge is and find ways to refill it
• the hardest thing you’ll have to do is say “no”

I wish that I had captured more of their thoughts.  I couldn’t write fast enough!

Are you ‘task’ first or ‘people’ first?

How are you leading generously?

Who has generously invested in you?